6 July 2011

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori will be hosting a Manaakitanga quiz night, which will be held at Te Papa Tongarewa this evening as part of its celebratory events for Māori Language Week 2011 – the first of its kind for the organisation.

“We wanted to do something fun with the language and the theme hence the quiz. We have around 15 teams, with four people in each team, from across Wellington competing tomorrow night. Some have come from government departments, while other teams are made up of whānau members we even have some kura and television teams in the mix. All participants are keen to engage in the language and have a good time with it”, says Chief Executive Glenis Philip-Barbara.

We can still take more teams and there is still time to register. Registration is free, so please contact Betty Hauraki.

Quizmaster for the evening is none other than long time television presenter for TVNZ and Māori Television Mātai Smith who will be conducting the entire evening’s proceedings in te reo Māori.

For these reasons, a requirement of each team’s registration was to ensure that at least one person within that team is a Māori language speaker. Spot prizes will be given to teams that speak the most reo, with other prizes being awarded for best team name and best team chant.

“We’ve had a good response to the team name and chants initiative. Matai has promised to add some Zumba to the nights proceedings so it all makes for a very entertaining night overall”.

“Being inclusive with the language and creating relaxed forums for people of varying fluency levels to mix and mingle is really what this evening is all about. If it is successful we will look at expanding it for next year’s celebrations”.

The quiz starts with a stand up buffet at 5:30pm, with the quiz proper commencing at 6:30pm.

ENDS

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